The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has revealed that eating less meat can help reduce the risk of coronavirus pandemic and save the environment.
The UNEP disclosed this while announcing a new Chatham House report on Wednesday.
Speaking on the report, Philip Lymbery of Compassion in World Farming, said: “At a time when so much of the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s never been more obvious that the well-being of people and animals, wild and farmed, are intertwined.”
The Programme warned that if ecosystems are continually destroyed, the population’s food supply will be at risk.
The report said a move towards more plant-based foods are necessary to ensure biodiversity loss will not accelerate.
In addition, more land needs to be protected, and agriculture needs to become more environmentally friendly, they said.
Natural ecosystems have been increasingly converted into arable land and pasture in recent decades, leading to the loss of animal habitats.
“The intensive farming of billions of animals globally seriously damages the environment, causing loss of biodiversity and producing massive greenhouse gas emissions that accelerate global warming,” said famed primatologist Jane Goodall in the UNEP statement.
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